WILAYAH NEWS VOICE OF THE GLOBAL AWAKENING
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NEW DELHI: What appeared to be a peaceful protest by Shia protesters at the Ghazipur border on Tuesday turned into a traffic nightmare at night. Protesters went on the rampage at the Mayur Vihar intersection after police detained senior Shia cleric ‘Maulana Syed Kalbe Jawad’, along with 500 protesters. This comes less than a week after the group clashed with cops at the Karbala shrine in Jor Bagh.
Traffic was thrown out of gear on NH-24 while the ripple effect was felt on the Akshardham road and Noida link road. Traffic cops said they had deployed additional personnel to manage traffic diversion.
“We will continue the protest as long as the Maulana is in custody,” said spokesman Syed Bilal. He added that the group had courted arrest at the Ghazipur border since they were not allowed access to the protest spot.
By Tuesday night, things spiralled out of control with the protesters running amok, burning tyres and blocking both carriageways of the highway. A few even tried to immolate themselves while they were detained at the Mandawali police station.
“We will stage a protest at the Amethi and Rae Bareli constituencies during the elections if our demands are not met,” said Jawad.
Earlier, More than a thousand protesters, mostly from western Uttar Pradesh, had tried to enter the city by marching from the Vaishali Metro station around 4.20pm but they were stopped at the barricades on NH-24 at Ghazipur, police said.
As most offices were closed due to a holiday, the city was spared a serious traffic disruption. However, several commuters wanting to go towards Indirpuram and towards Mother Teresa Crescent in New Delhi area had to take a detour as the stretch was closed for security reasons. Roads towards Anand Vihar, Kalyanpuri were also reported to be jammed. Closure of Jor Bagh and INA Metro stations also created confusion on Tuesday. “We had a strict security control mechanism in place to prevent any untoward incident,” said a senior .
